This photograph, called "Audette's Balloon," by David Blackett, is on view as part of a new exhibit at The Gallery at Still River Editions in Danbury. The two-person show also features the work of Lys Guillorn.

Photo: Contributed Photo

This photograph, called "Audette's Balloon," by David Blackett, is...

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This photograph by Lys Guillorn is part of a new exhibit called "Fadeless Imagery: Light and Memory," on view in Danbury. The show also features the works of David Blackett, and can be seen at The Gallery at Still River Editions.

Photo: Contributed Photo

This photograph by Lys Guillorn is part of a new exhibit called...

Image 3 of 3

David Blackett calls this photograph "Carnival." It's part of a new exhibit called "Fadeless Imagery: Light and Memory," on view in Danbury. The show also features the works of Lys Guillorn, and can be seen at The Gallery at Still River Editions.

Photo: Contributed Photo

David Blackett calls this photograph "Carnival." It's part of a new...

Many people claim to be experts at applying just the right filter to their latest instagram masterpiece. However in the time before digital selfies and photographic vignettes of one's latest cooking endeavor, photographers were taking pictures on film with equally, if not more beautiful effects.

Lys Guillorn and David Blackett are among those skilled photographers, and have amassed a collection of works that's now on display at The Gallery at Still River Editions in Danbury. These are photographs they took not with cell phones or digital cameras, but with antique and toy cameras -- resulting in what one might call an "artisanal version" of modern day instagram pictures.

"Fadeless Imagery: Light and Memory" is the name of this new exhibit. The photos it features were shot with antique cameras by Blackett, while Guillorn's photos were taken with her Holga toy camera.

What you see through a toy camera's viewfinder isn't always what you get when you develop the film, so there's an excitement associated with this randomness, said Guillorn. "I definitely enjoy the collaboration with the camera, knowing that what I see won't necessarily translate, but I've learned how to see things that my camera photographs well, like late afternoon light and early morning light," she added. "The unexpected can lead to disappointments or triumphs as well."

One might wonder how Guillorn found herself walking around with a toy as her camera of choice. "I think I first heard about it in a magazine and then bought a couple from a catalog, and gave one as a present and kept one for myself," she said. "It's been my companion for 15 years."

Blackett, on the other hand, found that the cameras he used at a younger age were still his favorites, even as technology continued to advance around him.

"I started picking up my parents' camera at 8 years old and would snap at family events until it was taken away from me." As he grew, his parents took note of his love of cameras and at some point he was given his own to use. By the time he was about 12, he had his first enlarger and was doing his own work.

By the early 1970s Blackett was in possession of some more modern equipment. However, after an unfortunate incident in which his camera bag was stolen, he temporarily returned to his father's camera.

"I realized that I liked it and started collecting antique and vintage cameras. I liked how the images looked; there was more softness than with modern lenses," he said. (In other words, life gave him a lemon, and he discovered a thing of beauty.)

While the two artists use different cameras, they both shoot on medium format film. Unlike 35mm film, which most people are used to, medium format produces larger negatives. Guillorn shared the implications of this: "A big square negative that is 6cm by 6cm. With a larger negative you get better image quality when you enlarge."

What ties all of these photos together is something that comes as a result of shooting with these alternative cameras. "There's a certain dreaminess," Guillorn said. "It's about capturing a certain kind of light, and the thread of the shadows goes through the whole collection."

Blackett said the photos are brought together by their distinctly artistic, rather than photojournalistic nature. "I used either motion or soft lens to change their natural appearance to something that was in my eyes more artistic."